


Surgeon of Death

by OceanShay



Category: One Piece
Genre: Aromantic, Gen, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, and anyway fuck hanahaki hope you enjoy this, hopefully it makes sense?, i also picked the general tag, its inchresting for sure, so technically it's m/m but bc of how it ends, spent like 3 hours on this last night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-31 22:56:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20248012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanShay/pseuds/OceanShay
Summary: This is the longest fic I've written and published to date. It takes place during the period in Law's life that we don't know much about in canon, from the death of Corazon to the events of the manga and anime. I, personally, headcanon Law as aromantic and wanted that to come through in my writing while also trying to deconstruct a harmful fan trope that's become popular. In this work I tried to let the narrative take Law's side in how he felt hurt and almost betrayed by someone because they developed the hanahaki disease, portraying the affected in a less sympathetic light than most other works I've come across have.Also, for all intents and purposes, Derya is a character that will likely only be confined to this work, but he is my own creation.





	Surgeon of Death

“I see land, Captain!” 

Cheering erupted from the other two men on deck. In truth, there were only four people on the small ship, sailing the open seas, looking for somewhere to set up for a few days and gather supplies. Or maybe stay longer, take a break from running if they were lucky. Law had realized how lucky they’d been to make it this far without drawing attention from Doflamingo. It had been almost eight years now and the pink feathers still haunted his nightmares. 

He stood up, a slight smirk on his face, looking at the beacon that called their ship to land. A tall, brick lighthouse shown out in the night sky, brighter than the stars around them. Only a small stretch of ocean separated the ship from it, waves breaking gently against the rocks. 

The ship pulled up against the beach next to the rocks, hoping the cover of night would disguise their movements. They could hide the ship better in the morning when they didn’t have to risk sinking it against the rocks or a sandbar hidden by the darkness. 

Law heard it first, the creaking sound of a door opening behind them, from the lighthouse. He motioned for the others to get down and stay quiet hoping to distract the lighthouse keeper and get them to look the other way. 

He jumped to the ground and walked over, holding Kikoku over his shoulder hoping to intimidate the lighthouse keeper despite his scrawny frame. Law had a decent control over his powers after training on his own, but hadn’t had much practice in using them with Kikoku. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. 

The lighthouse keeper stopped a few feet in front of Law. 

“Who are you?” he asked. 

“Trafalgar Law,” he answered honestly. He had no reason not to trust the man before him. Yet. 

“One of those pirates huh? After the One Piece?” 

“I suppose you could call me that.” 

“And what brings you to our island?” 

“I needed somewhere to restock and hide for a few weeks.” 

Shachi and Penguin’s heads poked above the deck railing behind Law, watching the discussion and hoping to God they wouldn’t be seen. 

The lightkeeper continued talking. 

“The lighthouse is a little ways from town. Is there a reason you didn’t dock in the harbor?” 

“I’m a pirate, is that not reason enough?” 

“I suppose but don’t you need to be closer to town to get your supplies?” 

Law realized he wouldn’t be getting out of this as easily as he had hoped and tried to find a way to end the conversation soon. 

“I’d rather take an extra few hours to move it out here than get arrested.” 

“That’s fair enough, but if you didn’t want to get arrested, why are you talking to a lighthouse keeper who reports to the government?” 

_ Shit _ . 

Law paused for a moment. A moment dragged on into more, and as he put a thought together, the other three members of his crew jumped over the side of the ship and got on their knees to beg. 

“Please don’t report us to the government! We just need some help and we’ll leave!” 

The lighthouse keeper took a step back in shock and Law stared wide-eyed at the three men before him. Or to be more precise, the two men and the talking polar bear. 

“What the  _ hell _ , who the hell are you!?” The man shouted, more in shock over the fact that there was a walking, talking bear in front of him than anything else. In all his 19 short years of life, he had never seen a walking, talking bear. 

“We’re so sorry we promise we won’t get in the way just don’t tell the government!” 

Law sighed and internally chastised himself for thinking anything could go smoothly with them around. 

“Well I think I see why you don’t want to dock in town now,” the lighthouse keeper said, starting to come to terms with seeing a bear talk. 

“I can put you up at my cabin for a few days I suppose, if you need somewhere to stay.” 

Law thought about it but before he could make a decision, the others had made it for him. 

“Thank you so much!” They said. 

The four of them followed the man down the shore to his cabin, Law on alert for anything that might be a trap, but finding nothing. 

When the door opened, a soft lamp light spilled onto the sand, illuminating the lighthouse keeper. He was a man of medium build with warm, brown skin and dark hair, not unlike Law himself. It was obvious the man took better care of himself, however, evidenced by the lack of dark circles under his eyes and minimal scars across the exposed skin. 

“What’s your name?” Law asked. 

“Derya.” 

\--- 

Days passed as Derya had let the small group of pirates into his home. They were surprisingly polite, the bear most of all. He had learned the names of the rest of the crew, interesting as they were. Shachi and Penguin were the human men, maybe a little younger than himself, and Bepo was the polar bear. Law, their captain as Derya had learned, was about his own age. 

And he was hot. 

Derya told himself to not get too attached and develop feelings, they would be gone in a few weeks anyway. But he wouldn’t object to letting them stay longer. 

Law was grateful for a place to stay and the discretion Derya had promised them in return for help maintaining the lighthouse on shore. It was physically exhausting for his crew, who had never dealt with so many stairs at once, but Law used his powers to do it with minimal effort. 

Derya stared at Law the first time he used his devil fruit powers to turn on the lighthouse. He had only heard of devil fruit powers before, and never saw one in action. It only made his feelings for the brooding captain worse. 

\--- 

Weeks turned into months and the crew continued to help Derya keep the lighthouse running, which gave him an excuse to relax with Law more and more often. His feelings had grown since their first encounter and he knew that he shouldn’t have these types of feelings for a pirate who could kill him in an instant, but he couldn’t help it. 

And he knew that they were getting worse, because only a month after meeting them, he had begun coughing up flower petals. 

Derya had only heard of this condition in the tales his mother told him as a child, someone fell in love with another and flowers grew in their lungs until they confessed their feelings. If they were accepted, then the flowers shriveled and died, but if they were rejected, the flowers would kill them almost instantly. 

The flowers could be removed, but at the cost of the romantic feelings of the affected. To many, that was a fate worse than death, and Derya had believed it was just an old wives’ tale, until now, anyway.

Law knew that Derya had been making excuses to be around him, but he didn’t mind. Derya wasn’t bad company and Law enjoyed talking with him, but it was nothing more. And he thought that it was a mutual feeling between him and Derya. 

Then one day he saw some damp flower petals in the garbage. At first he brushed it off as petals blowing in from nearby bushes and getting caught in someone’s drink. But they continued to grow in number, hidden in more places, as if in desperation. 

Law thought about one of the diseases he had read about with Corazon. One that stood out was  _ hanahaki _ , a disease that made one vomit flower petals in the event that they fell in love that was unrequited. A fairy tale, Corazon had told him. That’s all it was. Now he wasn’t so sure. 

He tried to think of who could be suffering from the flowering disease; He knew Bepo didn’t feel romantic love towards humans, and Shachi and Penguin wouldn’t develop something like this over whatever innkeeper they were drooling over in town that morning, and it certainly wasn’t Law who was vomiting flower petals. 

_ Shit _ . 

He had come to a conclusion and he didn’t feel great about it. Law realized why Derya had wanted to spend more and more time with him, and thought back to how he had been coughing more and more lately, turning away, and seeing pieces of a flower sink to the ground, saying it was just allergies. That the flower petals were gifted by someone in town. 

Law’s stomach knotted itself over, tightening at the thought of someone dying over him because he couldn’t reciprocate their feelings. He had never believed he needed to feel romantic love to anyone, nor did he want to. It was an extra tie he didn’t need and after watching Corazon die for him, and he was determined not to let that happen again. 

And he failed. 

He failed by allowing someone to get close enough to him to develop romantic attraction to him when that was everything he didn’t want. He failed in causing someone to contract a now  _ fatal  _ disease because he was putting off running away. He failed because he allowed himself to feel safe. 

Law called for a crew meeting, wanting to deal with Derya’s disease and leave immediately to prevent it from happening again from someone else. 

They all agreed it was time for them to take off again soon and began to load cargo over the next few days. 

Derya knew he had to confess soon, or Law’s leaving would kill him, literally. The flowers would bloom in his lungs and kill him. 

It was one of the days that Law was training on his power with Kikoku when it happened. 

Derya: “I think I love you.” 

Law: “I’m sorry.” 

Derya: “What do you mean? I know you’re leaving soon but I just wanted you to know--” 

Law: “I mean I can’t return those feelings.” 

Derya stopped, eyes widening in horror as he realized what would happen. 

“Room.” 

In the blink of an eye, Law had created a small blue sphere around the two of them before slicing at Derya with Kikoku. The flowers in his lungs that were about to sprout were pushed out of his body harmlessly. His feelings disappeared, too. 

Law’s body was shaking from the effort it took him to create the room and replace the flowers in such a quick time. He had done maneuvers like that before, removing a heart or switching two people’s souls when he needed cooperation, but he always had at least a minute to do it. If he hadn’t done it in a matter of seconds, Derya would be dead, and he knew it. 

Derya looked up at Law, eyes wide and shaking with the realization about what had just happened. Law had removed the flowers, and Derya would never be able to love again. 

Law turned around and placed his sword on his shoulder like they day they met. 

“It was nice meeting you.” 

“Wait don’t go, bastard! Why the hell did you do that? I won’t be able to love anyone ever again!” 

“Is that really so bad? To be unable to love?” 

“Some call it a fate worse than death.” 

Law didn’t know how to respond. Of course he knew that many people considered feeling romantic love to be the epitome of human emotion, but how could he explain otherwise in a sentence while walking away for good? He couldn’t. 

“I guess I’ve been dead for a long time, then.” 

“You’re a surgeon of death, that’s what you are. You don’t care about others’ feelings! Why couldn’t you just let me die?” 

But he did. He cared too much to watch Derya die with flowers in his chest and he cared too much about Corazon to listen to him and he cared too much about his family to run away with them and he cared too much for everyone. 

And maybe he shouldn’t. 

Maybe that’s how he ended up so alone in the world. 

“You said it yourself. I’m a surgeon of death, and sometimes, living can be worse than death.” 

And he walked away. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading all the way through! I know that it was a little bit of a heavy read but I'm glad you decided it was worth reading in full! Remember to leave kudos and comments on your favorite author(s)' works because that's really the biggest motivator in whether we continue to write and publish works or not!


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